MPCC Day 1a: Levels 5 & 6 (blinds 300-600, ante 50)

That's a wrap from the PokerStars Macau poker room on Day 1a of the Macau Poker Cup Championship as 60 players have survived to reach day two action.

In the final minutes of play, Australian Joel Dodds was able to improve his stack as he became the first, and only, player to crack the century as he bagged up 101,975 for the official end-of-day chip lead.

Unofficially, the best of the rest included Tony Dunst with around 80,000 and Dan Smith with 71,000.

We'll have a complete wrap of the day's action and a full list of chip counts for you shortly.

8:25pm: Finally, a double up for Celina

We haven't been able to mention PokerStars Team Asia Pro Celina Lin much at all today, as unfortunately her stack slid down early and she struggled for most of the day trying to find a good spot to double. She waited until one of the last hands of the day, but she finally found that spot.

With a raise to 2,000 in front, Lin moved all in for 3,375. Her opponent called with J♥J♣ and the race was on against Lin's A♦K♦.

The first four cards fell 3♠5♠6♠Q♣ and it looked like Lin wouldn't be joining us on day two. However she found a handsome looking K♣ on the river to pair up for the double. She'll bag up just over 8,000 at the end of the day.

Celina Lin will be relieved to find a double up and make it safely through to day two

8:15pm: Four more hands

As the day crawls to a close, it's been announced that we'll be playing four more hands on each table before we wrap things up for the day. Dan Smith, Tony Dunst and Joel Dodds look like they'll be battling it out for the end-of-day chip lead.

8:00pm: The truth has spoken

Andrew "The Truth" Hinrichsen was crippled a little earlier when his opponent spiked a gutshot straight on the river, but he's made a remarkable comeback to now find himself with a workable stack of 22,000 after a recent triple up.

It was Hinrichsen's 8♣8♠ up against A♠Q♦ and Q♥J♦ and they held on a board of 3♦K♦5♣4♦3♣.

7:40pm: Leaping Leo tames Neilson

We've just lost PokerNetwork.com Player of the Year leader in Daniel Neilson.

We arrived at the table to see Neilson's pocket sevens fall to the A♠T♠ of Leo Boxell with a third player also all in with pocket kings. The chips were in preflop and Boxell had both opponents drawing pretty slim after the flop landed A♥J♠4♠. Neilson couldn't find any help on the turn 5♠ or river 2♥ as Boxell climbs to 54,000.

7:30pm: Level up, blinds 300-600, ante 50

7:20pm: Big slick win for Dodds

Joel Dodds is now sitting behind a big stack after getting three streets of value against Gyeong Tae Yoo. Dodds fired 2,500 on the flop, 4,500 on the turn and 7,500 on the river on a board of 3♠K♥9♣6♠8♥ with Yoo calling him down with K♦Q♦. However Dodds had him out-kicked with his A♣K♣ taking the pot to move up to 70,000.

Joel "Strong Play" Dodds happy with three streets of value

7:15pm: Dunst dominating

Tony Dunst has always been fond of the ladies and they've just helped him to increase his stack and chip lead. With a raise to 1,175 and call in front of him, Dunst raised to 4,500 from the small blind. The original raiser folded but one player called to see a flop of 5♠K♠T♥.

Dunst check-called for 3,375 before both players checked the 6♠ turn and A♥ river. Dunst showed Q♣Q♥ which was good to take it down and move up to 80,000 in chips.

Also with a big stack on this table is Japanese Mayumi Kaneko who is sitting with 70,000 in chips. Perhaps we'll see a monster clash between our chip leaders before our day is done.

6:55pm: Chan back above starting stack

Macau Millions champ Justin Chan is struggling to gain momentum today but he's just picked up a small pot to get himself back above starting stack. Catching the action on a flop of 5♥2♣Q♥, action checked to Chan who fired 2,400 with just Wayne Jiang calling to see the T♣ turn. Jiang checked and Chan's bet of 7,400 was enough to take it down.

Chan is up to 22,000, while defending champ Devan Tang is faring a little better. He's up to 44,000.

6:45pm: Lunardi pulls the trigger

Kristian Lunardi is now commanding a very healthy stack after taking down another nice pot on a flop of Q♥8♠3♠. Lunardi's opponent had a bet of 5,425 in front of him with about 15,000 behind when Lunardi pulled the trigger and moved all in. His opponent quickly folded as Lunardi moved up to 60,000.

He still trails Tony Dunst who had chipped up to 75,000 as we wandered past his table. "I run good," was his cheeky response as we eyed his stack.

6:30pm: Play resumes

The players have finished their final break of the day and are back in action with two more levels of play before we wrap things up for the day. Tony Dunst (57,000) and Ivan Tan (52,000) are notables amongst the chip leaders while Team PokerStars Pros Raymond Wu (14,000) and Celina Lin (9,000) haven't been able to get anything going today. Hopefully they can turn things around in these final two levels.